


Tis the Season to Get Dangerous!

by Ninja_Librarian



Series: The Many Adventures of Duckburg's Heroes! [6]
Category: Darkwing Duck (Cartoon 1991), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Happy Hanukkah!, Joyous Kwanza!, M/M, Merry Christmas!, first holidays, happy holidays!, new traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21936505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninja_Librarian/pseuds/Ninja_Librarian
Summary: Twas the night before Christmas and the third night of Hanukkah in Duckburg. As the McQuacks, the McDuck Clan, and the Sabrewings descend upon the Mallard household to celebrate the holidays, spirits are bright as the night is full of highly anticipated firsts. It’s Della Duck’s first Christmas with her family since returning from the moon, it’s Lena’s first real Christmas, and it is Drake, Gosalyn and Launchpad’s first holiday season together!Unfortunately, a certain rat is causing a stir all throughout town, threatening to ruin the festivities. But all is not lost, there’s no need to fear, for the Terror that Flaps in the Night is near! Will Darkwing Duck and his friends be able to save the holidays in time?
Relationships: Drake Mallard/Launchpad McQuack
Series: The Many Adventures of Duckburg's Heroes! [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1478648
Comments: 43
Kudos: 186





	1. Chapter 1

“Drakey, you’re sure you can’t come to St. Canard, even for a little visit?” Maggie Mallard’s voice whined slightly over speakerphone. “It’s Gosalyn’s first Christmas as a Mallard…”

Drake rolled his eyes as he continued to wipe down the kitchen counters. “I’ve told you, several times now, that because it is Gos’s first Christmas with me, we both decided we wanted to do it very low-key and stay at home. And because I’m on call over Christmas.”

Both were technically true. They were planning on staying home, and Darkwing Duck was currently Duckburg’s only superhero in residence. Fenton had made his present to his mother a trip to visit his mom’s extended family for Christmas—something they hadn’t been able to do since Fenton was a teenager.

“You could send Gosalyn with Binkie and Herb, they wouldn’t mind,” Maggie insisted.

“Binkie and Herb are already heading to St. Canard,” Drake said, though he didn’t know nor care about his sister’s family’s travel plans. “Besides, we’re in the middle of getting Christmas Eve dinner ready. Like I said, just a nice, low-key—”

He cut himself off with a sigh as a large crashing sound came from out front.

“Oh,” Maggie said, bitterness in her tone. “You’re spending Christmas with the _McQuacks_ , aren’t you?”

“Of course not, Mother,” Drake said pleasantly, ignoring the distaste in his mother’s voice. “We’re spending Hanukkah together. Merry Christmas!”

With that, he hung up and slipped his phone into his pocket, heading towards the front door, though he paused at the living room entryway. Gosalyn was standing in front of the tree, simply staring at it and the rest of the room, looking like something was missing.

It wasn’t the first time Drake had found her like this. But he hoped that it was the last.

This December wasn’t just Gosalyn’s first Christmas with Drake as her father, or her first Hanukkah with Launchpad and his family. It was also the first Christmas without her grandfather.

Drake, Gosalyn and Launchpad had eagerly gone out together to find a Christmas tree, only to get it home to realize that they didn’t have a tree stand. Or lights. Or ornaments. Or any decorations, really. So they left the tree propped up in a corner of the living room while they went to the nearest McDuck-Mart to find décor.

It kind of sunk in, really, that this was the start of something new for all of them. A fresh start, to a certain extent, but it also highlighted the vastly different holiday seasons they had. Drake hadn’t celebrated Christmas—or any other winter holiday—in the last several years. Launchpad celebrated Christmas with his friends and Hanukkah with family, but there weren’t exactly too many Hanukkah decorations ready to be bought in bulk.

And Gosalyn was without any of the things that made Christmas, well, Christmas. No family recipes, no favorite ornaments, no one to share memories of her birth parents with her.

The results of their shopping excursion—and a little bit of online shopping—was interesting to say the least. It had been Gosalyn’s suggestion for them to decorate the tree to represent both holidays. They had gotten both blue and white lights for the tree, ornaments in glittery gold and silver, shiny metal doves and angels, and silver Stars of David from an online shop.

But he knew that, to Gosalyn, there were still so many things missing. That there was not one single familiar thing on display for her this year.

Drake wanted no reminders of his biological family at Christmas. But that didn’t mean Gosalyn felt the same.

“Hey, kiddo,” Drake said. “The McQuacks are here. Let’s go help bring stuff in.”

“Sure, Dad,” Gosalyn said, snapping out of her reverie. “Let me grab my coat.”

Drake relaxed as he saw Gosalyn perk up as she rushed out into the snow to meet the McQuacks, unloading the car with groceries.

“Hanukkah Sameach!” Gosalyn cried out as she threw her arms around Loopy’s waist.

“Hanukkah Sameach, Gos!” Loopy greeted as she returned the hug.

“Thanks for inviting us for Hanukkah and Christmas, Drake!” Ripcord said as he pulled out a grocery bag from the backseat.

“And thanks for letting me and Bentina use your kitchen,” Birdie said, her eyes sparkling as much as the rhinestones on her glasses.

“Well, thanks in advance for the latkes,” Drake said as he helped Launchpad with the luggage. “I’ve heard they’re legendary.”

“Hey, the Ducks and Sabrewings are here!” Gosalyn exclaimed, suddenly waving her arms as Donald pulled his car in to the driveway, quickly followed by the Sabrewings’ car. The back doors on both vehicles quickly opened and out tumbled the triplets, Webby, Violet and Lena.

“Hanukkah Sameach and Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!” Webby cried out as she ran over to hug Gosalyn. Webby let go of Gosalyn with a squeal and threw her hands in the air, exclaiming, “Two holidays in one night? Best! Day! Ever!”

While Gosalyn was distracted with their guests, Drake and Launchpad went over to the back of Donald’s car, where Donald, Della, Scrooge and Mrs. Beakley stood, pulling gifts and food out of the back.

“Did you bring it?” Launchpad asked in a low voice.

Della dramatically brought her palm to her forehead. “I knew we forgot something!”

Drake felt his heart sink as Donald gave his twin the stink eye. “Don’t be mean, Dumbella,” He told her, shoving a bag into her hands. He reached in the car and pulled out a wrapped present, meeting Drake’s eye as he said, “Its right here. Straight from Santa by way of St. Canard.”

Scrooge made a disgruntled noise as he grabbed more from the trunk. “You know not to use that odious man’s name in my presence, nephew.”

Donald rolled his eyes and said to Drake, “Where do you want it? Under the tree?”

“I’ll put it in my room for now,” Drake said. “Find a way to sneak it down during dinner.”

“I presume she has no idea?” Mrs. Beakley asked, glancing over to where the kids—having contributed to bringing in most of the things from the cars—were making snow angels and tossing snowballs at each other on the front lawn.

“None whatsoever,” Drake confirmed. “We didn’t want to drop even the smallest of hints in case it didn’t work out. I can’t thank you all enough.”

“Don’t thank us, the look on her face will be all the thanks we need,” Scrooge said.

They made their way in from the cold, the kids soon following with the promise of hot chocolate.

“When do we get to light the Menorah?” Webby asked, standing on her toes slightly to look at the Menorah standing on a table in front of the window facing the front yard in the living room.

“Any time after sundown,” Launchpad answered. “Shouldn’t be too long now. How about I teach you guys how to play Dreidel?”

“It’s super fun!” Gosalyn added, having spent the two previous nights playing the game with Launchpad.

“Hang on, I’ve got the gelt in my suitcase,” Loopy said, rushing up the stairs.

“What’s gelt?” Lena asked.

“ ‘Gelt’ is the Yiddish word for money, originating from the German word ‘geld’ meaning ‘money’,” Violet answered in her matter-of-fact way.

“Exactly,” Launchpad said. “Every player gets a piece of gelt to use as a game piece. You can use other things as a game piece, but gelt is the best.”

“Tactically?” Webby asked.

“No. Tastily,” Loopy answered as she reappeared, holding what appeared to be a bag of gold coins.

“Ooh,” Louie said, his eyes gleaming. “I like this game already…”

“They’re not real gold,” Huey said, pulling out his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook from under his hat, flipping to a page and said, “According to the JWG, in modern times, the ‘gelt’ used to play Dreidel at Hanukkah is actually foil-covered chocolate coins.”

“Eh, I’ll take it,” Louie said as Loopy pressed a piece into his hand.

“I’ve got the hot chocolate!” Donald declared as he entered the living room, tray of mugs in hand.

“We’re the hot chocolate baristas of the evening!” Della stated as she followed her twin, carrying a box of peppermint sticks, bags of marshmallows, and a canister of whipped cream.

“So… Mrs. Beakley kicked you two out of the kitchen then?” Louie asked.

“What? No!” Della said with a scoff. “Mrs. Beakley said that our culinary expertise would be best utilized in here!” Then she frowned. “Oh, wait…”

“Never mind, Mom,” Huey said, clearing a space on the coffee table. “You and Uncle Donald come play Dreidel with us instead!”

Suddenly, every noise in the house was paused as every single cellphone started buzzing and dinging with alerts. Even Scrooge’s ancient flip-phone was ringing.

“What in the world?” Professor Kevin Sabrewing said with a frown as he glanced at the alert where he stood in the kitchen. “It’s the local news alert system.”

Drake, who was already half-way down the stairs, took the remaining steps two at a time and dashed into the living room, turning on the TV, everyone else following him in.

Roxanne Featherly was on the screen in the news studio, saying, “He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. And apparently he’s mixed up the naughty and nice list. Reports of a rogue Santa are making bright spirits dark, literally, as he terrorizes citizens and is destroying the lights display in front of City Hall.”

Scrooge McDuck’s eyes gleamed as he threw a fist in the air and yelled, “VINDICATION!”

The word echoed through the silent house, helped by Scrooge drawing out the word.

Everyone turned to side-eye him.

“Uncle Scrooge,” Dewey said with a sigh, his hands on his hips. “You’re at an eleven and we need you at, like, a three.”

Scrooge lowered his arm and looked a bit sheepish as he said, “Right. Sorry.”

“This just in,” Roxanne continued on the screen. “We’re getting word that this rogue Santa—who those of us in the studio are referring to as ‘Krampus’—is currently attacking the Christmas tree in front of City Hall. We’re going to live footage of this heinous attack.”

The footage changed to in front of City Hall, where a very familiar face decked in a Santa coat and hat was currently setting the tree on fire.

Gosalyn frowned, then looked up at her dad. “Hey, isn’t that…?”

“That Megavolt guy?” Lena continued Gosalyn’s train of thought.

“How did he get out of jail?” Drake frowned. “And why wasn’t I notified?”

“I’m wondering the same thing, too,” Captain Raymond Sabrewing said grimly, already punching a number into his phone. “Excuse me.”

Drake sighed and shook his head. “I guess I’m going to go change…”

“And I’ll get the Ratcatcher,” Launchpad said, heading towards the kitchen to go to the door that lead to the garage.

Drake stopped him, grabbing the sleeve of his sweater. “No, you stay. It’s almost time for to light the Menorah and—”

But Birdie interrupted him by putting a hand on Drake’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We can wait for the Menorah. It doesn’t have to be lit right at sundown. The important part is being together.”

“And I’ll go, too,” Loopy said, already pulling on her coat and warm gear.

“It’s dangerous for civilians,” Drake commented. He knew that was just going to make her even more determined to go, but he felt like he had to put out the disclaimer.

“Perfect,” Loopy said. “I want another crack at this guy. And besides,” She grinned. “I can’t think of a better way to spend Hanukkah than kicking bad guy butt with my big bro.”

“Aw, Loopy,” Launchpad exclaimed, pulling her into a hug.

“I’m going, too,” Scrooge declared, already completely dressed in winter outerwear. “The more people to help stop this rogue Santa, the sooner we get on with celebrating our holiday in peace.”

“Don’t think he’s being altruistic,” Mrs. Beakley said quickly. “He just wants to punch Santa Claus—or a Santa Claus proxy—in the face.”

“That I do!” Scrooge said, his cane in the air as he headed for the door. “Donald, we’re taking your car!”

“You’re WHAT?” Donald exclaimed.

“Alright then,” Drake said. “Let’s get dangerous!”

By the time Darkwing descended the steps, pulling on a pair of long gloves overtop his jacket sleeves—thicker than usual for his costume, and his cape lined with fleece to keep out the cold—Raymond said, “I have more information on how Megavolt is on the loose. Apparently, at his trial earlier this week the judge was filled with the Christmas Spirit and let him go with a warning and community service.”

“Well, isn’t that just holly and jolly,” Darkwing said bitterly. “And why I had to learn about this via a city-wide text alert and the local news station?”

“Er,” Raymond said, the typically unflappable police captain looking suddenly awkward. “Uh, it appears that at the station, they have been trying—quite unsuccessfully—to page Gizmoduck.”

“Oh,” Darkwing said with a small sneer. “Of course. Merry Christmas to me… Are you getting called in?”

“No, but I think I need to be there,” Raymond said, frowning as he grabbed his own coat off the rack. “My squad has been called out to help. I consider my squad to also be part of my family. I know that Lena, Violet and Kevin will be safe here. But I need to be there for the rest of my family.”

Darkwing knew that Raymond was just as reluctant to leave his nuclear family behind on Christmas Eve. Especially as this was another first Christmas—the Sabrewing’s first Christmas with Lena, and Lena’s first time really celebrating Christmas.

Darkwing stopped in the living room and knelt down in front of Gosalyn, laying a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry that our first Christmas Eve isn’t going as planned, Gos.”

“Its okay, Dad,” Gosalyn told him, laying her hand over his on her shoulder. “We knew this might happen with Fenton out of town.”

Della came up behind Gosalyn and told Darkwing, “Don’t worry, we’ll have fun while we wait for you to come back and give us all the nitty-gritty details.”

Darkwing pressed a kiss to Gosalyn’s head and said, “I’ll be back by midnight, got it?”

“Got it,” Gosalyn said with a nod. “Now go get dangerous!”

He tipped his hat at her, then ducked out of the house, quickly followed by Raymond, who had stopped to give his own daughters hugs and promises.

As soon as the door closed, Della threw her hands in the air and shouted, “This is perfect!”

“Uh, weird flex on having our family members leave on Christmas Eve to go stop a psycho Santa with a literal power complex, but okay,” Lena said, arching an eyebrow.

“I mean, yeah, that sucks,” Della said. “But! But it gives us an opportunity to finally accomplish what Donald and I have been trying to do every Christmas since we were kids! To continue on a great Duck family Christmas tradition!”

Donald frowned and corrected, “What _you_ have been trying to do every Christmas since we were kids, and dragging me along with you.”

Dewey’s eyes brightened suddenly and said, “Are we going to do what I think we’re going to do?”

Della frowned at him and said, “Wait, what do you think we’re going to do?”

“Uh…” Dewey said, his face going blank and eyes wide.

Della suddenly gasped and pointed at Dewey, looking at Donald with wide-eyed amazement, “Wait, he was the relative from the future that one Christmas?”

“The what?” Huey and Louie repeated in shock as Donald simply nodded.

The confusion and shock in Della’s face quickly disappeared, replaced by a grin as she turned to Dewey, pointing at him with both hands as she said, “Then, yes, we’re totally going to do what you think we’re going to do!”

“Which is what, exactly?” Gosalyn asked, exchanging confused glances with the other girls, Huey, and Louie.

Della put her hands on her hips and declared, “We’re going to trap Santa Claus!”


	2. Chapter 2

Megavolt cackled as electricity cackled around him. It was so easy to gather static electricity thanks to this Santa suit he had stolen off some guy ringing an obnoxious bell—over and over, ugh—on the corner of 5th Avenue.

“Deck the halls with a trolley!” Megavolt exclaimed as he guided an electric train from the city’s Winter Wonderland park into the doors of Duckburg City Hall. “It’s lovely weather for slaying electricity wasters!”

“Dude, you can’t, like, mix up two songs like that.”

Megavolt turned to see three ducks standing there. The shortest of whom was quite clearly Scrooge McDuck. But the taller two ducks…

“Hey, don’t I know you from some—” He started to say but was cut off by a cloud of purple smoke.

“I am the terror that flaps in the night!”

Megavolt sighed and rolled his eyes. Now he knew why they looked familiar… “Ugh. This guy again?”

“I am the questionable fruitcake from well-meaning neighbors. I am…”

A caped figure dropped down on top of the train as he yelled,

“DARKWING DUCK!”

“Well,” Megavolt conceded. “He’s right about one thing. He’s most definitely a fruitcake… OOOF!”

Megavolt tumbled backwards into the snow, rubbing his snout as Scrooge McDuck stood triumphantly over him, yelling,

“TAKE THAT, YE CHIMNEY CLIMBING CLOWN!”

“Mr. McDuck,” Darkwing groaned, rubbing his forehead. “That wasn’t the plan we talked about in the car.”

“Sorry, Darkwing, lad, just couldn’t hold back any longer!” Scrooge said, sounding way too chipper about the situation.

“He just really wanted to punch Santa,” Darkwing’s partner—Pilot, was it?—said, sounding way too chipper about the situation.

Darkwing let out something between a groan and a growl before he turned on Megavolt. “So what’s your deal, Sparky? You haven’t been out of jail for even a week.”

“I know that! And don’t call me Sparky!” Megavolt snapped. “Bad enough you forced me to give up my most epic moniker of Electrokinexcelsior for this inferior, ugh, _Megavolt_.”

“The point, Sparky, get to it,” Darkwing said, making a wrap-it-up gesture. “I’ve got stuff to do, places to be, merry making to be, well, making.”

“And that’s just it!” Megavolt snapped, gesturing to his amassed collection from around City Hall. The train and the light displays that’s hues of cheery red and green to menacing and creepy in Megavolt’s possession. “All this merry making, while my babies suffer! It is definitely not the most wonderful time of the year for my bulbs and electricity! They’re over worked and without thanks! The light displays, the decorations inside and out, the inflatables, the choo-choos, the holiday cooking, the abundance of electronics, the extra heat! And you know the worst part? When one bulb dies in a strand of lights, the connection broken, do most people take the time to mourn the loss and replace it with another hard worker to join its brethren? No! Instead, they just throw them away! Perfectly good and healthy bulbs, thrown in the trash! It’s a drain!”

“Right, right, we don’t deserve electricity, you’d be happier if we lived like caveducks,” Darkwing said with impatience in his voice. “And attacking City Hall helps you how?”

“I’m being generous with the holiday spirit! This is a warning, an offer!” Megavolt declared, throwing his arms above his head. “Duckburg shuts off every single light, every single appliance, for the rest of Christmas!”

“Wait, so our options are to do that, or…?” Darkwing prompted.

Megavolt smirked and snapped his fingers.

Darkwing looked down and his eyes widened as a strand of Christmas lights wrapped around his ankle, pulling him into the air, dangling upside down. A yelp from Loopy and an indignant noise from Scrooge told him that they had also been grabbed.

“Or else I force all of Duckburg to have a black Christmas—permanently!” Megavolt said. “But I see my gift isn’t wanted—there are no nice boys and girls who want to listen.”

Megavolt stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled, the train coming over. Megavolt hopped on and said, “Onward, noble steed, to the power plant! Krampus is coming to town!”

Electricity crackled as he stuck out his hands, lights being pulled off of trees, off of lampposts, off of shop doorways as Darkwing and his team struggled to get free.

*****

“This year we’re really going to do it!” Della declared as she led the kids and a somewhat reluctant Donald into the backyard. “We’re actually going to trap Santa and give Uncle Scrooge the best Christmas present ever!”

“Your family is weird,” Lena commented in a low voice.

“Um, Mom?” Louie said. “What exactly is your strategy for trapping Santa?”

“All of them!” Della declared. “Every single strategy I’ve ever had!”

“All of which were failures,” Donald commented, looking over his shoulder longingly at the warm house.

But he figured there should be at least one adult involved in this process.

“Yes, yes, they were all failures,” Della admitted, her hands on her hips before lifting a finger and saying, “But, but! I think I’ve figured out why! Obviously, Santa and Uncle Scrooge are mortal enemies. Santa won’t go anywhere near McDuck Manor. Which means no matter how brilliant my traps were, they’d never work because Santa was never even near them! On the other hand…” She suddenly was behind Gosalyn, gesturing to her as she said, “Gosalyn here is not a mortal enemy of Santa Claus. He’ll be coming here, tonight! Which means that he’s totally unsuspecting, and we’ll be able to catch him off-guard!”

“Question!” Huey said, raising his hand. “Several, actually. Where are we going to get supplies for these traps? Are we going to be staying up all night for this? Does trapping Santa put us on the Naughty List permanently? And, to repeat Louie’s question, is there a strategy for trapping Santa?”

“I’ll start with the first one,” Della said, heading over towards the bushes in the backyard. “We’ve got plenty of supplies! Rope, carabiners, pulleys, wire cabling…”

“How do you know we have all of these supplies?” Violet asked.

“Yeah, we didn’t bring them out of the car, and now Donald’s car is gone,” Webby pointed out.

Della ducked behind a bush and pulled out sacks, grinning broadly. “I’ve been stashing stuff here since Halloween! Now let’s get busy, this net isn’t going to make itself!”

“This family sure has a vendetta for a guy who is supposed to be, like, the ultimate nice guy,” Lena commented a few minutes later as she and the rest of the kids knelt in the snow, knotting together a net as Della roped Donald—literally—into helping her booby trap the roof and chimney.

“Hey, Webby, do you have any idea why, exactly, Uncle Scrooge hates Santa?” Louie asked.

“The greatest mystery about the greatest man,” Webby said solemnly.

“Cryptic,” Violet commented. “But alluring nonetheless.”

“Hey, Gos?” Dewey said, tilting his head to the side, watching Gosalyn. “Are you okay?”

“Hmm?” Gosalyn hummed and looked up. “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m great, even.”

“Are you sure?” Webby asked. “You’ve been kind of… Well, you’ve been kind of down tonight. And it’s Christmas! And Hanukkah! There’s candy and latkes and carols and Dreidels and—”

“And it’s great!” Gosalyn exclaimed. “It all is! I love it, I love it all!”

“But something is still upsetting you,” Violet observed.

Gosalyn huffed and tugged on the rope. “It’s no big deal.”

“Apparently it is,” Louie argued. “At least to you.”

Gosalyn focused on the ropes as she made another knot. “It’s just… It’s my first Christmas without my Grandpa. But it’s also my first with Dad and Launchpad. I’m happy about that part, really. I love them a lot, and we’ve had so much fun picking out decorations and doing family stuff, and Dad and Launchpad are doing everything to make great and fun. But I miss my Grandpa, too.”

“Holidays can often be a time for grieving,” Violet said with a sage nod. “Especially as holidays are an emphasis on spending time with loved ones.”

“Yeah,” Gosalyn said. “But it’s also more than that. Everything that made Christmas, well, Christmas is gone. I don’t know where any of my old Christmas stuff went after Grandpa died and I went to the orphanage. A lot that can be easily replaced, but also stuff that can’t be. The wooden Nativity set my bisabuelo hand-carved. The stocking my mom made me when I was a baby. A set of angel figurines that Grandpa and Grandma got for their first Christmas together. The star that my parents got for their first Christmas together. All of the ornaments…” She trailed off with a sigh. “I don’t think I’ll ever see any of it again.”

“Have you told Drake and Launchpad?” Dewey asked, resting his hand on her shoulder.

“No,” Gosalyn said, shaking her head. “I don’t think there’s anything they could do. Like I said, I don’t know where any of that stuff ended up or if it got sold or whatever. And I didn’t want them to, like, think Christmas was ruined or whatever. Or that I wasn’t happy with them as my family. Besides, what does it matter? It’s just things.”

“Yes, but they are things that hold significant meaning to you,” Violet said. “I advise talking to your Dad and Launchpad. At least let them know how you feel.

“Yeah, but I don’t want them to feel bad because I’m sad, or think that everything is ruined or whatever,” Gosalyn said. “It’s just… I didn’t know it would be this hard. Or that it would hurt this much. There’s stuff that I see that reminds me so much of my Grandpa, but there’s also the things that I can’t see, can’t hear, can’t smell that remind me he’s gone. But at the same time, I’m really having fun with Dad and Launchpad and creating new traditions. So it’s a lot of conflicting feelings, a lot that I just don’t want to feel but the more I don’t want to feel them, I the more I do feel them.”

Donald, whom the kids hadn’t noticed was approaching with Della and had apparently been listening in, knelt in the snow beside Gosalyn. “The first Christmas after you lose someone is hard. Felt that way after our parents died, and felt that way after Della disappeared,” He told her.

“Does it get better?” Gosalyn asked.

“No,” Donald said. “And it doesn’t always get easier. Some years are fine, others are rough, even if it’s been a while.” He smiled sadly and glanced over at the triplets. “Hardest Christmas for me was the first year the boys wanted to stay up to catch Santa. They had all sorts of traps laid out and planned to stay up all night. It was such a Della thing that it… well, it hurt. Because I knew she’d want to be right there beside them.” He turned back to Gosalyn and said, “But you know what? It was okay that it hurt. Because I could take that pain and turn it into something happy. I got a chance to share a story about Della to the boys. I got to see her in them. It was like having a part of her back for Christmas that year.”

Della smiled, her eyes filling with tears as she placed her hands on Huey and Louie’s shoulders, pulling her boys towards her.

“So, the hurt is a way to, what, have the person you loved still around at Christmas?” Gosalyn asked.

“No, it’s a way to keep their memory alive. To find a way to turn that hurt into something positive,” Donald told her. “To share memories of happy times, while making new memories. Does that make sense?”

Gosalyn smiled slightly and nodded.

“Hey, what’s that noise?” Webby asked suddenly, getting to her feet.

They all listened carefully, to something that sounded almost like a ball being bounced.

And it was getting closer.

“It sounds like it’s coming towards the front of the house,” Lena said, also getting to her feet. They ran around to the front yard and Della gasped.

“It’s Santa!” She exclaimed.

Sure enough, the big man himself was coming down the street in his red-suited glory, getting closer and closer.

“But why is he hopping?” Webby asked, her brow furrowing.

“And why isn’t he stopping at the houses?” Huey asked.

“And where’s the sleigh and reindeer?” Louie asked.

But Della wasn’t listening. She grabbed one half of the net and tossed the other at Dewey. “Follow me and hold on tight! He’ll run right into it and we’ll have him!”

Dewey nodded and ran after Della, stopping when she stopped a few paces away. Both held the net aloft.

“Della, I don’t think—” Donald started to say.

But it was too late.

Santa collided with the net.

Dewey and Della had him trapped.

Except Santa kept on bouncing forward.

Taking Della and Dewey along with him.

“Mom, Dewey!” Huey and Louie called.

“Dewey, Della!” Donald, Gosalyn, Violet, Lena and Webby exclaimed.

“Hey, no, stop!” Della yelled at Santa, hitting him several times with her fists to no avail.

“Hang on!” Webby called out, pulling out her grappling hook.

“You brought a grappling hook to a Hanukkah-slash-Christmas party?” Louie exclaimed.

“You didn’t?” Webby exclaimed as she pulled the trigger, aiming for Santa.

The grapping hook wrapped around and—suddenly—Santa stopped.

And, to their horror, seemed to melt to the ground.

“Webby killed Santa!” Huey gasped.

“Well, it was fun being in Uncle Scrooge’s will while it lasted, since Webby just got the entire inheritance by killing Santa,” Louie said with a sigh.

Lena and Gosalyn both slapped him upside the head.

“I… didn’t mean to kill Santa!” Webby cried, looking horrified.

“You didn’t kill anyone,” Donald said as he started running over towards Della and Dewey.

“It’s one of those inflatables,” Dewey said, picking up the remains of ‘Santa’. “You know, for decorating lawns.”

“And the grappling hook popped it,” Della said. “But how did it get here?”

“The winds tonight are not strong enough to blow an inflatable away, even one that was not properly secured,” Violet observed.

“And that doesn’t explain why it bounced,” Lena added. “It was like it was possessed or something.”

“Magically possessed?” Huey asked Lena.

Gosalyn’s eyes widened. “No. Megavolt! He controls electricity!” She pulled on the fabric until she found what she was looking for. “See? A motor! It gets plugged into an outlet! This thing is powered by electricity! Megavolt must have, I don’t know, called it to him or something!”

“That does not bode well for our fathers,” Violet said with a scowl.

“Everything alright out here?” Kevin called from the front door of the Mallard house. “We heard shout—Is that a snowman coming down the street?”

Sure enough, it was a snowman. This time, they could tell that it was another inflatable. And it was followed by more Santas, reindeer, more snowmen, and other assorted winter-related décor.

“What would this Megavolt guy want with winter-themed lawn ornaments?” Lena asked.

“Uh, guys?” Louie said suddenly and urgently. “Look!”

Following the inflatables was what seemed like an armada of fireflies. Except these fireflies came in all shades. Yellow, blue, red, green, pink. Some seemed to follow in a pattern of color, while others were steadily one color. Some were long and others short.

“They’re Christmas lights!” Huey said. “They must have come off of houses or…”

“Christmas trees,” Della said with a gasp as a long strand of blue and white lights seemed to get closer, having come from a very familiar place. And attached to the lights was a square box that was very familiar… “Donald…”

Donald let out an angry noise as he saw the same thing Della did. “We have to follow those lights!”

Della nodded and the Duck twins ran down the street after the lights.

The kids glanced at each other, shrugged, then took off after them.

Obviously, Darkwing Duck needed more help.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Orthodox Christmas!

Raymond frowned as he directed two officers—one a yellow lab dog and the other a short goose—to follow Megavolt at a distance, while he and two of his other officers approached the tangled up heroes.

“Well, that didn’t go as expected,” Scrooge admitted, tugging on the lights that were wrapped around his torso.

“I’d say not,” Darkwing agreed . He frowned. Was all the blood rushing to his head making him delusional or was that…?

“Gosalyn?” He called out.

Gosalyn skidded to a stop and turned, running towards them. “Hi guys!”

“What are you doing here?” Darkwing demanded.

“Hey, is that? It is!” Della exclaimed excitedly as she started waving as she ran towards the group. “Penny! Penny! Penny!”

Penumbra sighed but said, “Hey, roomie…”

Meanwhile, Donald let out a yelp as he was swept off his feet into an embrace.

“Glorious holidays!” Storkules exclaimed. “It is my friend, Donald! It warms my heart to see you on this great day of joy!”

Donald sighed from where he was trapped in the god’s embrace. “Merry Christmas, buddy…”

“Lena! Violet!” Raymond exclaimed as he saw his own daughters approach with Donald, Della, the triplets and Webby. He glared at Della and Donald. “What are they doing here? I thought they were going to be safe back at the Mallard’s house.”

“We were following the inflatable Santas,” Violet explained.

“Yes, but why?” Raymond asked, the large brown dog’s usually emotionless voice tinged with a bit of frustration and his eyes full of concern as he kept glancing at Lena. They still hadn’t figured out who had stolen the magical Blood Ruby a few months previously, and if that person could have any connection to Magica de Spell. It made Raymond and Kevin somewhat over protective of their daughter.

“How’re Duckburg’s two newest cops this Christmas Eve, eh?” Della asked, giving Penumbra a playful punch in the arm, ignoring Raymond’s question and knife-like glare.

“Personally, I’d be better if someone hadn’t let that villain escape!” Penumbra said, side-eyeing Darkwing, who snarled and angrily pointed at her.

“This is not my fault!” He snapped.

Suddenly, Gosalyn’s cellphone started to ring. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. “Oh, it’s Fenton, I’m going to put it on speaker. Feliz Navidad, Fenton!”

“Feliz Navidad, Gosalyn,” Fenton responded. “What the heck is going on? And why isn’t your dad answering his phone? I’ve gone to voicemail five times now!”

“Well, he’s a little tied up at the moment,” Gosalyn said. “He can hear you, by the way. You’re on speaker.”

“Oh, great,” Fenton said. “Which goes back to my original question: what the heck is going on? One minute, my Abuela is bullying me into eating twice my weight in tamales, the next my phone and M’ma’s are going nuts with alerts. Something about Krampus?”

“It’s Megavolt, actually,” Darkwing said, grunting with some effort as he tried to do a sit-up to get at the lights around his ankle. “On his mad power trip as usual.”

“We just arrested that guy!” Fenton exclaimed. There was a smacking sound and everyone guessed that he hit himself in the forehead with his hand. “Blathering blatherskite… Can’t go away for a few days… Okay, get me caught up. What exactly is going on?”

“What part of I’m a little tied up do you not get?” Darkwing demanded.

“Fear not, Friend Darkwing! I will save you!” Storkules declared, releasing Donald—who let out an indignant squawk as he landed in the snow—and grabbed the end of the Christmas lights.

Darkwing’s eyes widened. “Wait, Storkules, what are you going to—”

But he was too late as Storkules swung the lights—and Darkwing—over his head like a lasso until the lights unwound, sending Darkwing flying and crashing into the City Hall Christmas tree, landing upright in the tree, but only to be hit on the head and beak by several ornaments in quick succession.

“Huzzah!” Storkules exclaimed, throwing both of his fists in the air triumphantly. “Success! Now which one of you valiant warriors wishes to be next?” He asked, looking at Launchpad, Loopy, and Scrooge.

“Not me!” Launchpad said quickly at the same time Loopy quickly exclaimed, “Uh, I’m good.”

“I’m Scrooge McDuck!” Scrooge declared. “And I can get myself out of this blasted tangle of fairy lights!”

Suddenly, the lights released their hostages, dropping them into the snow before floating off after their master.

“And that’s what you get for messin’ with Scrooge McDuck!” Scrooge hollered after the lights, shaking a fist before dusting snow off of himself.

Darkwing stomped over, grumbling something about glitter on his cape and ‘never going to be rid of that’. He cleared his throat and said, “Okay. So we know Megavolt wants to shut off all of Duckburg’s power. Probably by overloading the power grid, using the inflatables and lights.”

“So the question is, how to stop him before that happens,” Penumbra said.

“Yeah, or all of Duckburg will be in the dark and cold!” Dewey said.

“We can’t let that power-mad potbellied polar poltroon get away with this!” Scrooge said, thumping his fist into the palm of his opposite hand.

“Uncle Scrooge, you do remember that he’s not actually Santa, right?” Huey said.

“It’s the principle of the thing, lad!” Scrooge said.

“Yeah, well, you know, you don’t hear about menorahs going mad with power,” Launchpad said. “Just sayin’.”

Darkwing’s eyes widened. “Wait. I have an idea!”

“Which is?” Raymond prompted.

Darkwing grinned. “We cut off Duckburg’s power!”

“Uh, isn’t that what Megavolt’s trying to do, so wouldn’t that be considered helping him?” Lena said.

“No, not if we’re in control,” Darkwing said. “I imagine that if he’s going to cut off the power to Duckburg, he’s going to keep some lights going. But if we cut off the power—”

“—then he’s completely in the dark!” Fenton said. “He’s basically completely blind, won’t expect anything! That might just work!”

“Especially if we trick him by using Lil Bulb and his friends to help throw him off,” Darkwing said. “That’s why Launchpad’s menorah comment stuck out to me. Just a little bit of light, and a few people to run around as distractions so he doesn’t know where to go and he’s completely thrown off.”

“Brilliant!” Scrooge exclaimed.

“Alas, Friend Darkwing, will you not also be unable to see in the dark like that villainous fiend? However shall you catch him?” Storkules asked.

“Using these!” Webby proclaimed, whipping out a pair of night-vision goggles.

“Seriously!” Louie exclaimed. “You brought a grappling hook _and_ night-vision goggles to a holiday party?”

“It’s like you don’t even know me,” Webby said, feigning hurt.

“Great, perfect,” Darkwing said. “How many of those do you’ve got, Webby?”

“Sorry, I only have the one pair with me,” Webby said. “All my others are at the mansion and that’s all the way across town.”

“I don’t think we’re going to have enough time to run to the mansion and back before Megavolt tries to take out the power,” Loopy said.

They were interrupted by the sound of a car honking as it pulled up beside them. The driver of the green sports car rolled down the window and revealed Gladstone Gander.

“Merry Christmas, fam!” Gladstone said leaning his elbow on the car door.

“Gladstone?” Scrooge said with surprise.

“And Fethry!” Fethry exclaimed, half-crawling over from the passenger seat, waving.

“I thought you two wouldn’t be here till morning!” Della said.

“You’re not going to believe this, but I got into Duckburg many hours earlier than planned because when I got to the airport and was in line to buy a plane ticket—” Gladstone started.

“You didn’t buy a ticket for a flight on Christmas Eve weeks ago?” Donald exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air.

“Pfft, who would buy a plane ticket weeks before they depart?” Gladstone asked with a scoff and a wave of his hand. “Anyways, while I was in line someone very generously gave me his ticket—first class, too, mind you—for the next flight out towards Duckburg. So, I got here, picked up this baby—last in the rental car lot—and decided I’d go pick up Fethry from the docks! And you wouldn’t believe what happened while I was at the docks! While Fethry here was gathering his bags into the car, there was this guy, bit of a shady looking fellow on the outside, but clearly a good soul on the inside because he gave me an entire crate of night-vision goggles! I mean, I have no use for them, and told him so, but then he started begging me to take them. Insisting, even. Heck, he even paid me to take them from him, a whole—”

“Twenty dollars,” Scrooge, Donald, Della, Huey, Dewey and Louie all chorused, their reactions a mixture of exasperation, impressed, and resignation.

“Yes, how ever did you know?” Gladstone said with a nod. “Anyways, how could I refuse such generosity on Christmas?”

“Uh, what are the odds that what Uncle Gladstone has in the car right now is stolen and or smuggled merchandise?” Huey asked.

“How about we just accept this deus ex machina as a Hanukkah-Christmas miracle and try not to think too hard about this?” Darkwing said with a sigh. “Mr. McDuck, will you call Gyro and see if he and Manny can get to the Lil Bulbs in the lab?”

“Certainly,” Scrooge said, pulling out his phone.

“Great. Loopy, we’re going to need you to be in control of the power-grid,” Darkwing said. “Can you handle that?”

“No sweat,” Loopy said. “I’ll need a couple of extra pairs of hands, though.”

“I’ll help!” Gosalyn said, throwing her hand in the air.

“Me, too,” Louie said.

“And me!” Webby said, bouncing on her toes.

“I would like to be part of that endeavor as well,” Violet added.

“Great, I’ve got my team,” Loopy said.

“Darkwing,” Huey said suddenly, tugging on Darkwing’s cape. “If we’re going to cut off the power to the entire city, well, even if we’re doing it for a good reason, it could still hurt a lot of people. Like people at the hospital who need electricity. Or people who don’t have heating or fireplaces in their homes and rely on space-heaters.”

“Loopy, can you isolate the power to a few locations throughout town?” Raymond asked.

“I think so, if done right,” Loopy said. “Fenton, thoughts?”

“Give me a few minutes to run the calculations, you focus on gathering the tools and getting there, but I think we can pull it off,” Fenton said. “Where did you have in mind, Captain Sabrewing?”

“The police station, all of the fire stations, Duckburg High School, the community center, the hospital—”

“And the Money Bin,” Scrooge added. “I see what you’re thinkin’, Raymond. Advising citizens to go to those areas for warmth and shelter.”

Raymond nodded. “You got all that, Fenton?”

“Sure did,” Fenton said. “Darkwing, call Elise, in case my calculations are wrong. The hospital at least should have a back-up generator and they should get that ready to run if the power is cut off there.”

“Got it,” Darkwing said, pulling out his own phone.

“And, Loopy, call me when you’re ready for the calculations. Gos obviously has my number.”

“Roger that,” Loopy said with a nod. Then she turned to her team and said, “Come on, let’s go find some tools.”

“Storkules, Penumbra, each of you grab a pair of night-vision goggles for yourselves, then take a pair to Andy and Charles and fill them in,” Raymond said before stepping away to call dispatch on his radio, Lena following him.

Both officers nodded and followed orders.

“I’ll call Gyro now,” Scrooge said. “Donald, Della, get that box of goggles out of Gladstone’s vehicle.”

“And I’m calling Elise,” Darkwing said, pressing the speed-dial he had reserved for her.

The phone rang twice and then he heard, “Doctor Elise Schwanz.”

“Elise, it’s Darkwing,” Darkwing said.

“Well, you’re the one calling me, so you can’t have been electrocuted too badly,” Elise said somewhat dryly.

“Are you at work?” Darkwing asked.

“For another hour, hopefully,” Elise said. “But I can get away if you need me to.”

“No, but I do need you to get someone to make sure the hospital’s back-up generator is ready to run,” Darkwing said before quickly explaining the plan.

“I can do that,” Elise said. “Stay safe. And warm. Don’t get yourself fried, but don’t freeze either, okay?”

“Got it,” Darkwing told her. “Hey, if you do get off in an hour, head over to my place.”

“Huh?” Elise said, a bit surprised.

“Yeah,” Darkwing said. “We’re, well, we were having a holiday get together. Launchpad’s parents and sister, the McDuck Manor residents, the Sabrewings… You should join us.”

“My mom’s got the best latkes in the whole world cooking right now,” Launchpad added, cupping his hands to his mouth to be heard.

“I’d love that, actually. All of it.” Elise said with a small laugh. “Zan went to go see her sister for the holidays, but I couldn’t get off, so it’ll be nice to spend the holidays with people who aren’t patients. I’ll see you all soon, then. And hopefully only for festive reasons.”

“Same here,” Darkwing said. “See you then.”

He hung up and noticed that Donald and Della seemed a little… off, bickering with each other in a low voice and elbowing each other while stealing worried glances at Darkwing.

“Uh… Everything okay?” He asked.

“Yes,” Della said as Donald said, “No.”

They glanced at each other, then Darkwing as Donald said “Yes” and Della said “No…”.

“I’m confused, which is it?” Launchpad asked.

Donald sighed and glanced over where Huey and Dewey were giving Gladstone and Fethry directions to the Mallard house then came in closer.

“Look…” Donald said. “We have a little… situation.”

“Wait, did you capture an elf?” Launchpad asked. “I thought you were just after Santa.”

“No,” Della said, shaking her head. She sighed. “It’s my fault. After you left, Donald and I took the kids out back to set up traps for Santa. I asked Mrs. B to go up to Drake’s room to bring down the you-know-what. And apparently she did.”

“Okay?” Darkwing said, brow furrowing. “Why is that a problem?”

“Because when Megavolt took control of the lights, they came off of your tree and, well, they apparently got tangled with the ribbon on the box,” Della explained. “And so when the lights went to Megavolt…”

“So did Gosalyn’s gift,” Darkwing finished, feeling numb.

The twins nodded sadly.

Darkwing grabbed on the rim of his hat, pulling it down in frustration with a groan. Launchpad’s shoulder slumped and he looked like a kicked puppy.

“We’ll find it!” Della promised, putting her hands on Darkwing’s shoulders. “Donald and I. As soon as the power gets cut, we’ll look among all the lights and stuff. You two focus on Megavolt, and leave the rest to us!”

Darkwing let go of his hat with a sigh. “Okay. Okay.”

Scrooge came over to join them, grumbling and shaking his head.

“Gyro and Manny will be here in a few minutes,” He said, looking irritable.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Della asked.

“Would be, except I find out Gyro and Manny both have been spendin’ Christmas Eve in the lab at the Money Bin with no plans of goin’ home anytime soon. Again.” Scrooge said. He shook his head. “Can’t get that boy to take a break… Does this every year.”

“Invite them both to my house, seems the party keeps getting bigger,” Darkwing said. “The more the merrier. And we know Mrs. B and Birdie will want to stuff everyone full of food.”

Scrooge nodded and he glanced off into the distance where the power grid was, lights flashing and twinkling. “Wonder what it’s like to have a normal Christmas Eve…” Then he shrugged. “Meh. Probably boring.” He suddenly grinned. “What is that phrase you use, Darkwing?”

Darkwing smiled faintly and plucked a pair of night vision goggles out of the box, putting them on as he said, “Let’s get dangerous.”

*****

Penumbra peered out from behind her hiding spot, then looked back at her fellow officers, Loopy, Gosalyn, Violet, Webby and Louie.

“We’ll cover for you, so that you can get to the controls,” She said. She looked at Storkules, Andy and Charles. “Formation beta nine-nine.”

“Roger that,” Andy said, looking way too eager for being a distraction for an electricity villain, his tail wagging. “Ah, man, this is just like my favorite movie, _Die Tough_ , taking on a supervillain on Christmas Eve! Charles, you ready for this?”

“I was born ready!” Charles exclaimed.

Penumbra sighed and looked like she was very much done with her coworkers. “On my count. One. Two… Go!”

Loopy led the kids towards the controls while Penumbra, Storkules, Andy and Charles ran about, getting the attention of Megavolt.

“Alright, this should be a piece of cake,” Loopy said as they opened the control panel. They worked in tandem for a few minutes, passing tools.

Loopy suddenly frowned as she held two wires in her hands. “I need to cross these two wires.”

“How do you do that?” Gosalyn asked.

“Well, for starters, I need gum,” Loopy declared, then suddenly started patting down her jacket. “Come on, I always carry gum for this reason…”

“Interesting. You use chewed gum to act as soldering between the wires, correct?” Violet asked.

“That or the foil from the wrappers to act as an extension of the wire,” Loopy said, frowning.

“Will this work?” Louie said, reaching into his own pocket and pulling out something round, golden and shiny.

Loopy’s eyes widened. “It’s a Hanukkah miracle! That’ll work perfectly!”

“You’ve been carrying around your piece of gelt all night?” Webby asked Louie as he quickly unwrapped the chocolate.

“I was handed a gold coin—albeit a chocolate one—and you thought I’d let that baby out of my sight? Geeze, Webs, it’s like you don’t even know me,” Louie said teasingly, passing over the foil pieces and tossing the chocolate in his mouth.

“Alright,” Loopy said as she finished fitting the foil around the two wires. “Gos, get Fenton on the line. I’m going to need those calculations.”

Gosalyn nodded, putting Fenton back on speaker. He quickly gave Loopy a series of numbers and Loopy said, “Alright, it should work.”

“And the others are in position!” Webby said, peeking out from behind the control panel.

“We just need to wait for the signal,” Gosalyn said, getting her night vision goggles on.

*****

Megavolt cackled as he watched the cops retreat. Fools! They saw how he handled Darkwing Duck, did they seriously think they stood a chance?

Now he turned back to his original task: cutting off all of the power to Duckburg!

“Time for a pitch-black Christmas!” He said, reaching his hands up.

Suddenly, though, he was surrounded in a cloud of purple smoke.

“What the—” He said, looking around in confusion.

“I am the terror that flaps in the night!”

To Megavolt’s horror, everything went dark.

And he had no part of it.

“Hey!” He called out into the darkness. “What’s the big idea?”

*****

Darkwi ng grinned as he watched Megavolt stumble around, chasing lights that suddenly appeared and disappeared.

“I am the carolers who are singing The Twelve Days of Christmas—off-key!” Dewey called out as the bulb in his hands flashed, then he ducked out of the way before Megavolt could lay a hand on him.

“I am the roll of wrapping paper that is two inches short of covering the entire present!” Lena said, smirking.

“I am the glitter from the holiday card that you will never be rid of!” Webby exclaimed gleefully.

“I am the gift you ordered that says exactly what it is on the side of the box!” Huey yelled.

“I am the most definitely cursed holiday special your friends insist on watching every year!” Andy called out.

“I am the most terrifying mortal holiday tradition!” Storkules said dramatically. “Elf on the Shelf!”

“Ooh, that’s a good one, I wish I had done it, can I get a do-over?” Dewey called out.

“I am the cat that destroyed the Christmas tree!” Louie said.

“I am the tree that sheds all of its needles before you can get it in the stand!” Raymond called out.

“I am the ladder that trapped you on the roof putting up lights!” Gosalyn called.

“I am the coal at the bottom of your stocking!” Scrooge yelled, taking an opportunity to give Megavolt a swift kick in the seat of his pants.

“I am the too dry stuffing that ruins the perfect holiday meal!” Charles declared.

“I am the burnt latkes stuck to the bottom of the pan!” Loopy called out.

“I am the structurally unsound gingerbread house that continuously collapses,” Violet said, allowing her bulb to briefly illuminate her face.

“Ooh, I am the relative that always gifts everyone socks and underwear!” Della called out from somewhere in the distance.

“Come on, seriously, I want a do-over!” Dewey yelled.

“I am the hideous sweater that your coworker blinds you with its ugliness at the holiday party,” Penumbra said bitterly.

“Hey, now, Andy’s sweater—while tacky—wasn’t all that horrible,” Charles said defensively.

“I was talking about what you were wearing, Charles!” Penumbra snapped.

“I wasn’t even wearing an ugly Christmas sweater to the party!” Charles yelled back. “I wore a regular sweater!”

“Well, it was chartreuse and mustard yellow…” Andy said.

“Oh, so now chartreuse isn’t festive?” Charles demanded, sounding annoyed.

“I am the gelt that melted while you were playing dreidel!” Launchpad shouted.

“And I!” Darkwing exclaimed as he did a flying kick at Megavolt, knocking him into the snow. Darkwing triumphantly put a foot on Megavolt’s back, pinning him into place. “Am every version of ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ played on infinite loop! I am… Darkwing Duck!”

Everyone stared at him in horror.

“Curse me kilts, Darkwing,” Scrooge said, sounding scandalized. “That’s just pure evil!”

Darkwing shrugged. “I used to work retail at Christmas. It is literally the worst possible thing I could think of.” He had a somewhat shell-shocked look as he said, “I worked a lot of Christmases in retail… So many different versions of that one song…”

He shuddered and shook his head at the memory, then hauled Megavolt up. “Come on, buddy, there’s a warm cell with your name on it.”

Loopy got the lights back on as Darkwing turned Megavolt over into the custody of Raymond’s back-up, who came bearing strict orders from the chief of police and the mayor for Raymond and his team to take the rest of the night off for a job well done.

Darkwing was dusting off his hands when Donald and Della approached, neither looking too happy.

His heart sank. “You didn’t find it, did you?”

“We didn’t,” Donald confirmed. “We searched everywhere, but there’s no sign of it. We’re so sorry.”

“Maybe it’ll turn up when all of this mess gets cleaned up,” Della said hopefully as she looked over her shoulder at the mess of lights and inflatables.

“Yeah, but Christmas will be over by then,” Launchpad said.

“It’ll still be Hanukkah for a few more nights?” Della suggested helpfully.

Darkwing sighed and glanced over to where Gosalyn was playing with the other kids, who were currently wrapping lights around Storkules. At least she didn’t know… There were no hopes to be dashed… “Let’s just get the kids and go home.”

*****

“I’m sorry, Lena,” Raymond said as they walked back to where the cars were parked. “Your father and I wanted to make sure that your first Christmas was, well, memorable. Though not in this way. To give you a normal Christmas.”

“Are you kidding?” Lena said, a big grin on her face. “This Christmas has been great so far! I’m spending time with all the people I care about—and who care about me—and got to help put away a bad guy, and there’s still food and more fun to look forward to tonight and tomorrow. Dad, this is the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole existence! I never thought I’d ever have a family, and definitely never have a Christmas, but this year I have both and I wouldn’t trade any bit of it for anything!”

Raymond pulled her into a hug, which she returned, and Violet came to join in.

“I love you girls so much,” Raymond told his daughters.

“As we love you,” Violet said. “Now let’s go get to Papa so we can have a full-family embracing session.”

Drake sighed slightly as he listened to this going on behind him. Launchpad slung his arm over Drake’s shoulders, pulling him in. Drake leaned into Launchpad’s warmth, but was surprised to feel a small hand take his.

“Hey, Dad? Launchpad?” Gosalyn said, looking a bit nervous. “Can we talk?”

“Of course, sweetie,” Drake said. “What’s on your mind?”

“Well…” Gosalyn said. “I’ve been… Well, I haven’t really been honest with you two about something. And that’s that I miss my grandpa. A lot. But I didn’t want to tell you, because I didn’t want either of you to think that I wasn’t having fun celebrating the holidays with you, or spread my sadness onto you. And I… well, I wanted to know if it was okay. To talk about Grandpa with you.”

“Gos, of course it’s okay,” Drake said, stopping so that he could put both his hands on her shoulders and look her in the eye. “Kiddo, you’ve been through a lot in the last year. And you’ve handled it so well, better than a lot of adults can. But we never, ever, want you to feel like have to handle everything on your own.”

“You can always tell us how you’re feeling,” Launchpad added. “Because we’ll always be here for you.”

Gosalyn smiled and threw her arms around them both. “I love you guys. So much.”

“We love you, too, sweetie,” Drake said, gently patting Gosalyn’s hair. “Now let’s get home and out of the cold. Hot food awaits!”

“It’s latke time!” Launchpad said, swinging Gosalyn up so that she rode on his shoulders.

“Oh yeah!” Loopy said, throwing her arms in the air. “Time to eat our weight in potatoes!”

The smell of hot food met them at the doorway, as well as the sounds of greetings from a very full household.

“Welcome back,” Mrs. Beakley said, coming out of the kitchen carrying a tray of hot, fresh sugar cookies as everyone entered, shedding their winter gear and snow-soaked shoes.

“And welcome home!” Fethry said as he followed Mrs. Beakley out of the kitchen with a tray of steaming mugs of hot chocolate, apple cider, tea and coffee.

This was all quickly and gratefully accepted by the newcomers, all ready to shake away the cold. Mrs. Beakley, Fethry, Kevin, Birdie and Ripcord then herded them into the living room, where the fire was crackling and blankets were warming by the fire.

“Hanukkah Sameach,” Gyro greeted from where he had sequestered himself into the corner of the couch, looking none too pleased to be among the company of other people but was nearing the bottom of a large cup of hot chocolate.

“And Merry Christmas,” Manny added in clops, Lil Bulb rushing to hop on his companion’s shoulder.

“They were talking about the arrest on the radio when I was driving over!” Elise said as she got up to give out hugs. “Good job, heroes!”

“Yes, mazel tov!” Birdie said as she hugged her children.

“Glad someone got a use for those night vision goggles,” Gladstone said as he took a sip of his drink.

After everyone had warmed up a bit, they all gathered around the Menorah as Birdie recited the blessings, then lit the candles.

Drake smiled, feeling very much at peace as he had his hands on Gosalyn’s shoulders, leaning against Launchpad, watching the flames flicker for a few moments, the candlelight the only light in the room.

As the candles burned, food was brought in. Latkes and doughnuts and turkey and stuffing and gravy and brisket and challah bread and matzo ball soup and pies and cookies, hot chocolate and apple cider and coffee. So much food, and so many people to share it with, sitting under the Christmas tree and watching the candles in the menorah as the flames danced and shone brightly.

“Launchpad, will you and Loopy show us how to play Dreidel now?” Dewey asked when they were all finally unable to eat anything else.

“Sure!” Launchpad said. “Gos, can you go grab the Dreidels?”

“Yeah!” Gosalyn said, getting to her feet and going over to where they kept the box of Dreidels on the mantle.

As she approached the fireplace, her toe met something solid.

Gosalyn frowned and looked down to see what she had kicked.

It was a present, with a folded card that depicted a Christmas tree—a tree that looked exactly like her Christmas tree, with white and blue lights and Stars of David and angels—and a Menorah—a Menorah that looked exactly like the Menorah on the table in front of the window, candles and all. Come to think of it, the entire painted picture looked almost exactly like the living room.

She picked up the card and opened it. Her brow furrowed. “Hey, Dad?”

“Yeah?” Drake said, turning slightly from where he sat talking with Penumbra and Della. Then he did a double-take when he saw what Gosalyn was standing beside, leaping to his feet. “No way…” He whispered.

“What is it?” Della asked, then her own eyes widened.

Their reactions caught the attention of the other adults. Launchpad, Scrooge, Donald, and Mrs. Beakley were all particularly looking shocked—especially since they thought they knew the fate of that present. Or what they thought had been its fate.

“That wasn’t here when we left,” Violet observed, coming over towards her friend.

“What does the card say, Gosalyn?” Huey asked.

Gosalyn looked back down at the card and read, “ _Dear Gosalyn, this is a Hanukkah present. So open it before Christmas._ ”

“Does it say who it’s from?” Webby asked, standing on her toes to look over Gosalyn’s shoulder.

“No,” Gosalyn said, shaking her head. Gosalyn looked back at her dad quizzically, almost asking for permission.

Drake felt tears pricking his eyes as he nodded. “Well, you should do what the card says, Gos.”

Gosalyn knelt down and tugged at the ribbon, tearing carefully at the paper. She lifted the lid and she gasped, her eyes shimmering with tears and a grin on her face.

“I don’t believe it!” She said, starting to pull things out. Right on top was a green and red stocking with ‘Gosalyn’ embroidered on it. “It’s my stocking! The one my mom made for me! And the nativity set… And the angels, the star, the ornaments… Everything’s here!” She leapt to her feet, stocking still in hand as she rushed over to Drake, throwing her arms around him. “I don’t know how you did it, but thank you! Thank you so much! I thought I’d never see any of this again!”

Drake hugged Gosalyn tight, but looked up at Launchpad, whose face matched his in disbelief and joy.

“You’re welcome, Gos,” Drake said, unsure what else to say.

“Can we put it all up now?” Gosalyn asked, releasing Drake from his hug to embrace Launchpad.

“Of course we can,” Drake said, ruffling her hair. “How about you tell us the stories behind all of our new decorations?”

Gosalyn nodded and led them over to the box, the others in the room milling over as well to see what had brought Gosalyn so much happiness.

Donald, Della and Scrooge stood off to the side, simply staring in amazement.

“But how? But who?” Della asked, then she frowned as she knew the answer.

“Santa,” She, Donald and Scrooge all said at the same time.

“That ho ho hooligan got past all my traps again!” Della said, shaking her fist at the fireplace. She sighed, shoulders slumping. “I’m sorry, Uncle Scrooge. I really thought this was the year we’d capture him. Finally get you the best Christmas present ever.”

“Aw, lass,” Scrooge said, pulling her in for a hug. “You already have given me—and the whole family for that matter—the best Christmas present ever, one we never expected to have: a Christmas with you.”

“The first of many,” Donald added as he hugged his sister and Uncle. “We’ll get him next year, Della.”

“And for this year,” Scrooge said, smiling as he watched Launchpad lift Gosalyn so that she could place her nativity figurines on the mantle. “Well, I think we’ll let him have a pass.”

*****

Several hours later, Drake flopped onto the couch beside Launchpad, who curled an arm around him, watching as the kids played another round of Dreidel—Louie laughing at Dewey’s annoyed reaction as Louie acquired yet more gelt. He looked around the room, seeing Elise—who had just gotten a twelve-hour shift when she came over—passed out in the armchair, draped in several blankets courtesy of Birdie and Mrs. B. Scrooge, Donald and Della were regaling the McQuacks, Kevin and Raymond, Storkules, Penumbra, Gyro, Manny, Charles, Andy, Fethry ad Gladstone about their adventures—with Mrs. Beakley providing sarcastic commentary frequently.

“Good Hanukkah?” Drake asked.

“The best yet, and it’s not even half-over,” Launchpad said. “Good Christmas?”

“The best yet, and it’s still Christmas Eve for another—” He paused and looked at his watch before saying, “Half hour.” He smiled, watching Gosalyn enjoying herself. “I still can’t believe it… How it ended up back here…”

“The magic of the season, I guess,” Launchpad said.

Gosalyn suddenly looked over at them and grinned, rushing over.

Drake let out a small ‘oof’ as he and Launchpad suddenly had Gosalyn on their laps.

“I’ve got something for you,” She said, her eyes sparkling and her voice teasing. She whipped up her hand above their heads. “Ta da!”

Drake and Launchpad both looked up at the mistletoe pinched between Gosalyn’s fingers, then they grinned at each other.

“Might as well,” Launchpad said.

“It is tradition, after all,” Drake said.

Gosalyn beamed as Drake and Launchpad shared a quick kiss.

“Well, my work here is done,” She said, sounding smug. She was about to leap off but Launchpad grabbed her around the middle, holding her in place.

“Hang on just a minute there,” Launchpad said. “Now, your dad and I weren’t the only ones under the mistletoe.”

Gosalyn frowned in confusion, then giggled as Drake and Launchpad each kissed her on the cheek.

“You guys are so sappy!” She exclaimed.

“And you love us for it,” Drake told her, booping her on the beak.

“That I do,” Gosalyn said.

Suddenly, she wasn’t in as much of a rush to get back to Dreidel.

For just a few minutes, it was the three of them, their own little family, surrounded by their large, chaotic, wouldn’t-give-it-up-for-the-world family.

For just a few minutes, all was calm, and all was bright.


End file.
